Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting exhibition at the Wallace Collection looking at the life of the 19th century ruler of the Punjab, Ranjit Singh. Using contemporary paintings and objects, many owned by Singh, they clearly told his story from starting to rule at 21 to building a cosmopolitan, cultured empire despite threats from the Britain, Russia and Afghanistan. The basis for the show being at the museum was its collection of contemporary armour much of it associated with Singh. I must admit I found that quite hard to relate to albeit that much of it was very beautiful. I loved the use of exquisite miniatures to illustrate a lot of the points. I am very fond of that type of jewel like Indian painting. I particularly liked an intricate picture of his court. There was a section on how he attracted Europeans to his court and to fight in his armies including a number of Napoleon’s former generals. There were good portraits of them including a lovely drawing by Landseer. The most intriguing pieces w

Delightful and clever exhibition at the Wallace Collection using contemporary art to look at the Rococo period. There is a lot of art influenced by the Rococo around at the moment and this show used work by Flora Yukhnovich to set up a dialogue. In a plain space downstairs the show hung two paintings by Boucher without their frames, as you would look at a contemporary painting. The effect was interesting and I found myself looking in more detail at the image. I generally find the style too frilly but without the frame they seemed more paired down. Upstairs the two contemporary works were then shown in gold frames which seemed to elevate them. They were abstract pieces in the luxurious colours of the Rococo and worked well with the other work and furniture and them. Closes 3 November 2024 Review Times  

Fascinating online lecture from the National Gallery introducing their exhibition focusing on Degas’s “Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando”. The co-curators Anne Robbins from the Muse D’Orsay and Chiara Di Stephano from National Gallery took us through the themes of the show and introduced us to new material which had been found. They looked at the life of Miss La La (Anna Albertine Olga Brown) using newly discovered photographs of her then moved on to discuss the circus itself and how it became an inspiration for artists. They then took us through the studies for the painting and talked about how he developed the image. These included sketches made at the circus as well as drawings of Miss La La in his studio. Some time was spent on the time Degas spent with family in New Orleans and the influence of seeing black people there and the effect of figures silhouetted against the bright light had on his art. Finally they outlined the ownership of the work until it came into the Nation

Small art fair held at the Garrison Church at Chelsea Barracks. It’s always nice to get to events at this converted church and the work looked good in the space. There was a nice selection of work and it went for quality rather than quantity. I spotted a nice Auberbach drawing, a Bridget Riley print, Picasso prints, a Tracey Emin and more. There was an interesting balance of paintings and sculpture. Pieces that caught my eye included this fun sculpture made of bone china cups and saucers and the portrait by Waldemar Lorentzon who I’d not come across before. Closed 29 June 2024    

Disappointing e xhibition  at the National Army Museum looking at Shakespeare and war. I say disappointing because, although the narrative was set out clearly, the vast majority of items on the show were reproductions and photographs of works. The show looked not only at how Shakespeare wrote about war but how it has been used in times of conflict from the English Civil War to contemporary readings. I was fascinated to read that Charles I had a copy of the folio which he was reading as he waited trial which he annotated. The Napoleonic wars were mainly represented by satirical prints often using Shakespearean quotes and the First World War section included a copy of the complete works which were given to wounded and sick soldiers. It was an interesting idea to add contemporary productions which included a video of the National Theatre Othello which had had a military adviser who had been head of the armed forces in Iraq. Closed 1 September 2024

Beautiful small exhibition at the Garden Museum looking at the role of garden to the women of the Bloomsbury Group. If you read this blog you’ll know I’m a great Bloomsbury fan so I was excited to see this show and it delivered. It’s only a small exhibition space but it was used well to look at Ottoline Morrell, Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West. It made good use of paintings, particularly in the section on Ottoline where it featured many of the artists who had stayed with her at Garsington. There was also lots of archive material and good use made of books and book covers in Virginia’s section. It would have been nice to have had a small section on the gardens as they are today as at least three of them can still be visited however I think they may have videos online to cover this. If you don’t know the group this would be a nice gentle introduction. Closes 29 September 2024 Review Telegraph